Controversy is brewing at CBS headquarters.
After firing acclaimed investigative journalist Catherine Herridge, CBS News has seized all of her files, which sources believe is an “unprecedented” move.
“A former CBS manager, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he had ‘never heard of anything like this,” said legal scholar Jonathan Turley.
“He attested to the fact that, in past departures, journalists took all of their files and office contents. Indeed, the company would box up everything from cups to post-its for departing reporters,” Turley wrote in an op-ed for The Hill. The former employee called the decision to hold Herridge's materials “outrageous” and a danger to confidential sources.
Both Herridge and CBS News have refused requests to comment.
Turley continues:
A source within the the union, SAG-AFTRA, confirmed that it has raised this controversy with CBS and remains extremely concerned about the effect of this action on journalistic practices and source confidentiality. The union believes this is “very unusual” and goes far beyond this individual case. “It is a matter of principle,” a union spokesperson added. “It is a matter of serious concern. We are considering all of our options.”
For full disclosure, I was under contract twice with CBS as a legal analyst. I cherished my time at the network. I have also known Herridge for years in both legal and journalistic capacities.
CBS is one of the world's premier news organizations, with a legendary history that includes figures from Murrow to Walter Cronkite to Roger Mudd. That is why the hiring of Herridge was so welcomed by many of us. The network was at risk of becoming part of the journalistic herd, an echo-chamber for Democratic and liberal narratives. It had been mired in third place for ages, and it was moving in the wrong direction by alienating half of the country.
Herridge had been a celebrated investigative reporter at Fox News. An old-school investigative journalist, she is viewed as a hard-driving, middle-of-the-road reporter cut from the same cloth as the network's legendary figures.
Some people are suspicious about the timing of Herridge's dismissal, given the Biden administration's displeasure with her reporting and the recent special counsel report casting aspersions on the president's mental faculties.
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